Crude Oil Rises for First Time in Eight Days

In the earlier trade session, WTI crude futures had broken the $30 per barrel price level, when it slumped to an intra-day low of $29.93 per barrel- price levels last seen in December 2003.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February rose 26 cents, or 0.85 per cent, to United States dollars 30.70 per barrel at around 09O0 IST.

In a bullish sign for oil, Chinese crude imports rose to a record 7.82 million barrels in December, up more than 21 percent from November, official data showed on Wednesday.

China added up to 147 million barrels to its oil reserves in the first 11 months of 2015, according to Reuters calculations, and could expand purchases this year as new storage tanks become available.

Prices were little changed from the close after the API was said to report that US crude supplies fell 3.9 million barrels last week while fuel stockpiles climbed.

“Let’s not forget that a year and a half ago, I said that we were probably going to get to the mid $30s when crude oil prices were trading at $125 per barrel”, he said on CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Monday.

USA crude futures eked out gains for a second day in early Asian trade on Thursday, though the market remains vulnerable to gloom over a world awash with supply and concerns about economic growth hitting equity markets. The rebound comes ahead of the weekly crude oil update from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), scheduled to be out 10:30 AM EST today.

Brent on Tuesday slid to Dollars 30.34 a barrel, which was the lowest point since April, 2004.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh yesterday told Bloomberg Iran was preparing to boost production and exports as it neared the end of sanctions.

He believes that in mid-term, the glut in the oil markets will remain.

UBS analyst Myles Allsop cut his 2016 and 2017 price for forecasts for Brent crude by approximately 25% to $42 and $55 a barrel each, respectively. US crude oil production levels continue to hold, though market pressures may push output there lower. Now to retain that title, we will have to see USA data released later. Gasoline inventories increased 2.5 million barrels in the week ended January 8, the survey shows.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 37 cents at $30.49 a barrel at 3.38pm GMT.

London-listed energy giant BP had already slashed 4,000 jobs a year ago as it prepared for a prolonged period of low prices.